Safe Harbor buoyed by gift

A program that provides group support to young people following the death of a loved one recently received a large financial donation from a family that benefited from its work.

Abington Memorial Hospital’s Safe Harbor gained a $10,000-grant from the David B. Weiss Memorial Foundation, which raises funds and supports various causes throughout the community.

Safe Harbor helps grieving young people share their experience as they move through the healing process. It also provides parents with the necessary tools to assist their grieving children while supporting their own grief.

Weiss’s wife, Jill, participated in Safe Harbor programs with her four sons following his death.

“The foundation is making the donation to celebrate the life of David by helping Safe Harbor make a difference in the lives of so many families facing the same challenges as David’s family,” Dave Newman, a board member of the foundation, said in a press release.

Debbie Teasdale, who founded Safe Harbor in 2001 and is the program’s director, called the donation “huge.”

Safe Harbor has five part-time staff members and 53 volunteer facilitators for the 145 children it serves on a budget of about $100,000. The families meet every other week from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Teasdale said “95 percent” of Safe Harbor focuses on helping children ages 4 to 18 deal with the death of a parent. “They’re going through the same thing and this helps them cope,” she said.

She said parents also benefit from the trained volunteers and staff members in a support group.

“First, they’re grieving themselves and need to be with other parents,” she said. “As single parents, they’re also coping with all of the challenges that entails. They also need to support their children, who may or may not be developing risk-taking behavior, such as falling grades or skipping school.”

Teasdale said she was “grateful” for the support of the Weiss foundation “and its mission to help those in need.”